Perfection eludes Mariinsky in 'Swan Lake'

Oct. 3, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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The Mariinsky Ballet performs "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. the Segerstrom Center for the Arts has always offered the Bolshoi, Mariinsky, and lesser dance companies (remember the Moscow Classical Ballet and its shaky sets?) as part of its excellent season. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Oxana Skorik of The Mariinsky Ballet performs as the Queen of Swans in "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening. Skorik owns the combination of explosive power and quiet grace necessary for the Odette-Odile roles. It's easy to admire certain elements of her technique: Her arabesques are spectacular, highlighted by breathtaking leg extensions and a wonderfully supple back. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Vladimir Schklyarov of The Mariinsky Ballet performs as Prince Siegfried in "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Mariinsky Ballet performs Act 1. of "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. No dance company can make a stronger claim of ownership to a ballet than the Mariinsky does to “Swan Lake.” DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Oxana Skorik of The Mariinsky Ballet performs in "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening in Costa Mesa. Skorik's arms don't always carry her line to its elegant conclusion, and she can't quite deliver the fluid, slowly flapping gesture that rolls easily from shoulders to fingers and back – an essential quality in this role. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Mariinsky Ballet performs "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The folk-influenced dances in the third act were all beautifully rendered DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Alexsey Nedviga of The Mariinsky Ballet performs as a jester in "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Konstantin Zverev of The Mariinsky Ballet performs in "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening. As evil Rothbart, Zverev was suitably threatening, though his intimidation potential was undermined by ridiculously small wings. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Konstantin Zverev and Oxana Skorik of The Mariinsky Ballet perform "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Oxana Skorik of The Mariinsky Ballet performs as Queen of Swans in "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. We never tired of the 32 ethereal swans, exactingly trained by interim ballet director Yury Fateev. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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“We have 32 swans in the corps de ballet, and one who is the queen. That's 33 in all,” said the company's director, Yuri Fateev. “They all must be perfect.” DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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St. Petersburg, Russia's Mariinsky Ballet performs "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Constant ensemble rehearsal is crucial to the production's success, Fateev said. “It is very important for the same people to do it together and develop a feeling for each other, so they can do exactly the same timing and the same steps. That is why the Vaganova Academy is so important to us. They are learning those steps from a very early age, and they come and watch (‘Swan Lake') being performed many times during their educational years.” DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Mariinsky Ballet's Vladimir Schklyarov performs as Prince Siegfried in "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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It wasn't until 1895 that choreographers Marius Petipas and Lev Ivanov put together a version for St. Petersburg's Imperial Russian Ballet that connected with audiences and critics. Since then it has never been out of the company's repertoire. Young women who enter the Vaganova Academy, the Mariinsky's prestigious ballet school, practice the devilishly tricky corps de ballet parts from the very beginning of their training. It's one of the reasons that the Mariinsky's “Swan Lake” is famous for is ethereal beauty, sublime athleticism and uncanny perfectionism. DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The Mariinsky Ballet performs "Swan Lake" Tuesday evening at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. the Segerstrom Center for the Arts has always offered the Bolshoi, Mariinsky, and lesser dance companies (remember the Moscow Classical Ballet and its shaky sets?) as part of its excellent season.DREW A. KELLEY, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

There's always a frisson of breathless anticipation when the Russians blow into town.

Of course, they've been electrifying Costa Mesa for quite a while: the Segerstrom Center for the Arts has always offered the Bolshoi, Mariinsky, and lesser dance companies (remember the Moscow Classical Ballet and its shaky sets?) as part of its excellent season. And who can forget Baryshnikov's magisterial presence in the Center's early days when American Ballet Theatre came calling?

By those heady standards, the Mariinsky Ballet's performance of "Swan Lake" on Tuesday was a bit of a letdown. On the opening night of its six-day, seven-performance residency at Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Hall, the venerable company, accompanied by its own orchestra, seemed a tad off its game.

All the complaints usually leveled at Russian companies apply here.

The sets, by the current standards of touring ballet, are strictly Old School: simple painted backdrops, for the most part, although there was a handsome and fairly detailed rendering of a palace ballroom in the third act. If you think creative scenic design is impractical for touring ballet, Google Ballet de Monte Carlo's wondrous sets for "Cinderella," which played the Segerstrom Center in February.

The Mariinsky Orchestra is competent, but fluffs and squeaks distracted from the beauty of Tchaikovsky's peerless score. The harp inelegantly thumped at the beginning of one exposed phrase; the first violins had occasional problems with vertiginous passages; there were small but persistent disagreements of ensemble.

And the orchestra's often ponderous tempos under conductor Mikhail Agrest were good for the dancers, perhaps, but not so good for the music.

All of this is usually forgivable with Russian companies because of the dancing. But here, too, there were issues.

The Mariinsky's celebrated corps de ballet looked crisp and thoroughly rehearsed, for the most part.

But the famous "Danse des petits cygnes," always a showcase of tight ensemble dancing, was marred by less-than-perfect execution. Created by the ballet's co-choreographer, Lev Ivanov, the lively dance imitates the movements of flocking swans. On Tuesday the quartet's pas de chats were clean; their head movements were not.

The soloists, too, left something to be desired.

Oxana Skorik owns the combination of explosive power and quiet grace necessary for the Odette-Odile roles. It's easy to admire certain elements of her technique: Her arabesques are spectacular, highlighted by breathtaking leg extensions and a wonderfully supple back.

But Skorik's arms don't always carry her line to its elegant conclusion, and she can't quite deliver the fluid, slowly flapping gesture that rolls easily from shoulders to fingers and back – an essential quality in this role.

Skorik had trouble with Odile's famous third-act fouette turns on Tuesday as well.

As her eager pursuer, Prince Siegfried, boyish Vladimir Schklyarov is a compact, efficient dancer. But he lacks the magnetism of Russian male stars from years past (remember Farouk Ruzimatov?), and as Siegfried his relationship with Odette generated few sparks. (He showed more ardor for Odile, the femme fatale from the wrong side of the pond. Why are we men so predictable?)

Other roles were played more successfully.

Alexsey Nedviga stole more than one scene as an energetic and perpetually mischievous jester. As the evil swan Svengali Rothbart, Konstantin Zverev was suitably threatening, though his intimidation potential was undermined by ridiculously small wings.

Playing Siegfried's doddering old tutor, Andrey Yakovlev reminded us that the Russians rule the ballet world when it comes to character roles that require more acting than dancing.

There were outstanding moments: the folk-influenced dances in the third act were all beautifully rendered, and we never tired of the 32 ethereal swans, exactingly trained by interim ballet director Yury Fateev.

Coming from any other company, Tuesday's shortcomings would seem minor. But this is the Mariinsky, a fabled ensemble that has trained us to expect perfection. Still, I suppose even its performers are susceptible to the vagaries of international travel and opening-night jitters.

Keep in mind that lead roles are shared by several performers during the run.

Odette-Odile is also played by Yekaterina Kondaurova (Wednesday and Friday) and Anastasia Kolegova (Saturday matinee and Sunday). Skorik returns Thursday and Saturday evening.

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